The Okanagan Symphony Orchestra’s recent offering, Music of the Night, featured internationally renowned Phantom, Peter Karrie and Vernon resident soprano Melina Moore.
Peter Karrie has played the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera an astonishing 3,000 times worldwide.
From the opening bars of the Phantom theme to the heart-felt tones of “Music of the Night”, Karrie held the audience in the palm of his hand.
He captured the pulsing yearning of a frightened girl when he sang “Piece of Sky”, then swept into a mood so dramatically despairing with “Soliloquy” from Les Miserables, that the audience was too hushed to applaud.
Moore showed herself to be a capable songstress, easily keeping pace with Karrie in all duets. Her operatic training from Julliard showed to advantage as her technical control was effortless and clean.
Maestra Rosemary Thomson squeezed in the Overture from Verdi’s La Forza del Destino. The performance was notable for its shaped lines and good musical direction.
A special brava to pianist Carol Colpitts who was called on to accompany two of the vocal numbers on her own, and provide the pounding organ parts for the Phantom pieces, rock organ and harp parts.
The soloists and orchestra more than deserved the two enthusiastic standing ovations from an enchanted audience whose hearts and spirits were swept away by the music of this magical March night.